The General Workers' Union yesterday released the technical financial calculations it has made to prove the Fairmount ship conversion projects cost the country €80 million and not €38 million.

Union secretary general Tony Zarb said the auditing firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers had not taken into account the overheads and other expenses incurred by the shipyards for the two projects.

Mr Zarb told a press conference that the Fairmount projects, which involved work on two semi-submersible barges - the Fjell and the Fjord - were the last nail in the shipyards' coffin. The auditing company was appointed by the government to investigate the controversial loss-making projects.

In the terms of reference, the government had not told the firm to calculate the losses incurred but just the negative contributions, Mr Zarb added.

Moreover, the government had not instructed PricewaterhouseCoopers to establish who was responsible for the "scandalous loss-making projects".

Mr Zarb said the union was prepared to divulge more details unless the government agreed to its request for an "independent and public inquiry".

He said PricewaterhouseCoopers had not calculated various costs such as accountants, planners, draughtsmen, clerks, purchasing officers, leave and sick leave allowances, cost of protective clothing as well as machinery, travel costs, insurance, transport and drivers, among others.

He asked how Malta Shipyards marketing manager Graham Crouser had been appointed and why was he allowed to leave the country before his contract expired. He said the union was informed that Mr Crouser was now working in shipyards in Gibraltar and could easily be tracked down.

In its reaction, the Ministry of Infrastructure said Mr Zarb had mixed up the net losses of these two projects, and therefore the negative contribution of these jobs, with the overall loss the shipyards registered during the time under consideration. This at a time when the yards did not solely work on these projects.

The GWU had to understand that it was the PricewaterhouseCoopers report that dealt with these two contracts and it (the union) could not be involved in it, the ministry added.